The Spirit of Medjugorje

"Dear children, in this time of grace when you are called to conversion, I am encouraging you, little children: offer me your prayers, sufferings and tears for conversion of hearts that are far from the Heart of my Son Jesus. Pray with me, because, little children, without God you do not have a future or eternal life. I love you, but I cannot help you without you; therefore, say 'yes' to God. Thank you for having responded to my call. (With Ecclesiastical approval)"

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The Christmas Day Crucifixes

By June Klins

      In our March 2020 issue, we featured the powerful testimony of Jim Browne, an abuse victim from Ireland who turned to alcoholism and then had a conversion in Medjugorje. Soon, Jim began leading pilgrimages and has many stories to share. His testimonies can be seen on MaryTV.tv, Episodes #29, #44, and #199. The following was taken mostly from Episode #199 and some from #44.
     Jim recounted that when he was in Medjugorje in December of 2004, a friend of his told him to buy a few crucifixes because they were going to meet with visionary Vicka on Christmas Eve, and that these crucifixes, which they would leave with Vicka, would be blessed on Christmas Day by Jesus and Mary. "At the time, I didn't understand the difference between that apparition and all of the other apparitions where Our Lady appears to three of the visionaries every day," Jim confessed. So Jim's friend explained to him how different and how special the Christmas Day apparition is. He said that Our Lady comes with Baby Jesus in Her arms, like the very first Christmas. Jim held up a picture of Our Lady arrayed in gold and holding Baby Jesus, as the visionaries have all described. He continued, "During the apparition, Jesus and Mary bless these beautiful crucifixes." Jim purchased the crucifixes, as his friend suggested, and "went with it as blind faith." The following week, they went back to Vicka's to retrieve the blessed crucifixes. "I didn't know the real healing power and the graces of conversions of what I was carrying home."
     Jim soon began to see these graces after he gave one of the crucifixes to someone whose friend was in a coma. The man put the crucifix under his friend's pillow in the hospital on a Monday. On Wednesday, the man came out of the coma and went back to work the following Monday!

      Jim believed at this point that there must be something very special about the Christmas Day blessing. He digressed at this point in his testimony to explain why he thought it took him so long to understand the different blessings. Jim proposed, "It takes longer to re-learn than to learn." He then very briefly summed up a part of his life before Medjugorje. He had gone away from the faith he had as a young boy and got into New Age practices. "We were all told that we're developing a relationship with Jesus, when in fact, we are developing a relationship with the universe and with Satan…It is a wolf in sheep's clothing." He continued, "I had to get all this rubbish completely out of my spirit and out of my soul." A priest performed deliverance on Jim, and as a result, he became more open to the graces and blessings in Medjugorje.
     Jim also explained that Our Lady insists that sacramentals be blessed by a priest, so they asked a priest to bless the crucifixes as well. The priest gave them a full exorcism blessing with exorcised salt mixed with water. (Fr. Leon, the chaplain for the English-speaking pilgrims has done this for them the last few years.)
     Jim continued with a few of the many stories of the blessings of these crucifixes. He said, "There hasn't been a week that goes by that I don't get phone calls from people asking me for them." He told the story of a 10 year-old girl from Citluk (not far from Medjugorje) who had been in a terrible head-on collision. After many hours of brain surgery, the doctors told the mother that if she survived, she would be a vegetable and never be able to do anything for herself. One of the guides from Medjugorje heard of this situation and gave one of the crucifixes to the mother to put under the girl's pillow. Three days later, the girl woke up from her coma and asked for the can of Coke and the sandwich she had been eating when the accident happened! The girl went back to school a few weeks later! Her brain was 100% healed.
     Jim had an appointment with a particular doctor one time and she happened to ask him where he was going for Christmas. He told her he was going to Medjugorje and would be taking crucifixes to be blessed during the Christmas Day apparition. He then recounted the story about the girl in Citluk. Jim gave one of the crucifixes to the doctor. Jim said, "I know she took it without offending me, but she didn't understand what she had in her hands." The following year, Jim went back for a check-up and the doctor exclaimed, "James, thank God you're here!" Jim thought the worst, since his health was not the best. "Am I OK?" he asked, to which she replied, "You're fine, but I need another crucifix." She added, "There's good news and bad news about the first crucifix you gave me. My father got very sick and he was in a coma, and my brothers and sisters came from Australia and America because we were told he was going to die. Then I remembered the story you told me about the young 10 year-old girl, and I have to be honest, I had to start looking for the crucifix. I didn't know where I'd left it." She lamented, "I'm sorry that I desecrated it by just leaving it in a drawer." Then she exclaimed, "I found the crucifix, and like the mother with the daughter, I put this beautiful crucifix under my father's pillow. There's good news and there's bad news." Jim asked for the good news. She said, "The good news is that in three days, my father came out of the coma and now he's driving around Galway." And the bad news? "He won't give me the crucifix back, so I'm asking you - and I promise you, Jim Browne - I'll know where I put this one!"
     One day a young man called Jim and asked him if he was the one who had the crucifixes. Since he sounded so young, Jim asked him his age, to which he responded that he was 19. Jim remarked, "It's lovely to have a young fellow of 19 to want a crucifix." "Well," the young man replied, "you gave one to my mother last year, and anything that could have stopped my mother from worrying - there had to be a miracle attached to it!" He now wanted two crucifixes - one for himself and one for his girlfriend.
     Jim recounted one of his own "beautiful experiences" with the crucifixes, and I have to admit, this is one of my favorites. As a shoe salesman, at the time, Jim was loading up his car with shoes for his exhibition the following day. As he was heading to the hotel to get more of the shoes, a man jumped between two cars, demanding money. Jim checked his pockets and there was some change, but also two of the crucifixes. He held all he had in his pocket out to the man, and the man asked, "Do you mind me having one of those crosses?" Jim, of course, obliged his request, and added, "Do you know anybody else who would like the other cross?" The man answered, "Yes, I do, and I think that you know I do." As Jim wondered what would happen next, the man took the crucifixes out of Jim's hand. Jim asked him, "What about the money? Don't you want the money?" The man replied, "I only want to take it if you want to give it to me." Jim handed it to him and added, "Not only that, but I still have some extra money in my car, and I'd like to give you some of that, too." When they got to the car, Jim gave him the money and shook his hand. As Jim headed back, he glanced back and noticed that the man was kissing the crucifix! Jim believed this man was a drug addict and needed money urgently, but, "when he saw the crucifix, he recognized it as being more powerful and more beneficial than any money I could give him".

Christmas Day Crucifix

      In 2010, Jim was selling his footwear to a shopkeeper who seemed down in the dumps. He shared with Jim that he was upset because he and his wife were not able to have a baby. They had tried many things, and had just tried a new treatment and it was unsuccessful. He said that the doctors said it was impossible for them to have a baby. Jim pulled a crucifix out of his briefcase, offered it to the man to bless himself and his wife. The man kissed the crucifix as he accepted it. Ten months later, on the Wednesday of Holy Week at exactly 3:00 p.m., Jim received a text from this man with a picture of their new baby daughter, named Mary. Later, the man invited Jim to his house so he could present Mary to him. Jim exclaimed, "It reminded me of Simeon in the temple when I held this beautiful girl, who was a gift from Jesus and Mary." The couple then announced to Jim that they were now expecting a second baby!
     Jim ended his testimony (#199) by saying that there is only one answer to everything, and it's a song that is sung all the time in Medjugorje: "Jesus, I believe".
     Editor's note: To send for a crucifix (ONE only per order), include your name and address, typed or printed legibly, and a minimum of a $5.00 donation for postage to Barbara Kleaveland, 822 Moulton Ave., North Muskegon, MI 49445. Any donation beyond the postage helps buy more crucifixes for next year. For those outside the US, you can email Jim at jpbshoes@gmail.com for a crucifix. I asked Jim about whether he would be able to go to Medjugorje for Christmas this year (because of Covid-19), and he replied, "I will not be in Medjugorje at all this year, but I have made arrangements with Mojca (the Marian Pilgrimage Guide) and Vicka's husband, Mario, to collect the crucifixes and have them present for the apparition on Christmas Day. Last year's Christmas Day Crucifixes all arrived here two months ago except for the many thousand I give to Fr. Leon. One way or another, whoever needs a Christmas Day Crucifix will get one."